Anyone here had lasik?

[motivez]

Originally Posted by Phantom

I'm scurred.

Is it hard to keep your eyes open? I had a miserable time starting with contacts since my eyes are so sensitive, but I was determined to get the in. It still took me several more months to get the hang of contacts. I'm not even sure I could hold still for the surgery.

That's my biggest problem really... I've never been able to do contacts because I seriously freak out whenever stuff gets in my eye.. I'm sure contacts aren't as bad as having dust or an eyelash or whatever once you get used them, but I've just never had any desire whatsoever to take the plunge

I don't even like opening my eyes under water...

The idea of having to sit back in a chair with things pulling my eyelids open while some laser comes and slices my eyelid off, picks it up, etc, etc.. just, no fucking way.

They'd have to put me out. I'm not even sure if they offer that option. I mean, maybe if I was REALLY REALLY out of it, I could handle it, but I would hate to freak out mid procedure and ruin my eyesight permanently..

[Linzyhop]

Originally Posted by motivez

That's my biggest problem really... I've never been able to do contacts because I seriously freak out whenever stuff gets in my eye.. I'm sure contacts aren't as bad as having dust or an eyelash or whatever once you get used them, but I've just never had any desire whatsoever to take the plunge

I don't even like opening my eyes under water...

The idea of having to sit back in a chair with things pulling my eyelids open while some laser comes and slices my eyelid off, picks it up, etc, etc.. just, no fucking way.

They'd have to put me out. I'm not even sure if they offer that option. I mean, maybe if I was REALLY REALLY out of it, I could handle it, but I would hate to freak out mid procedure and ruin my eyesight permanently..

you don't feel contacts in your eyes. i've worn them since i was 15 yrs old. that's the point of them, you can't feel them if they're in your eyes correctly, but just the pain of getting them, putting them in in the morning, taking them out at night, cleaning them, keeping your perscription up to date.... if i had the money i'd def get lasik.

my bf got it done by the doctors that did Tiger Woods' eyes.

[Phantom]

Originally Posted by motivez

That's my biggest problem really... I've never been able to do contacts because I seriously freak out whenever stuff gets in my eye.. I'm sure contacts aren't as bad as having dust or an eyelash or whatever once you get used them, but I've just never had any desire whatsoever to take the plunge

I don't even like opening my eyes under water...

I've never been able to open my eyes underwater either.

In order to get contacts in my eyes the first time, the optometrist had to physically struggle to keep my eyes open while he placed them in my eyes. I tried for more than an hour to do it for myself afterwards and could not do it. The doc suggested maybe contacts aren't for me, but I convinced him to let me take them home and try for myself. I think it took several days of trying for hours before I could get them in by myself.

It was worth it though. I wore glasses for almost a year and I could never play sports or do lots of things that I liked to do before. Maybe you should try struggling with the contacts first - your eyes will get used to you messing with them after you do it enough.

[DosEquis]

I hear major positive stories, and i have 2 examples of "woah shit". Most of the woah shit involves them having to go back repeatedly to fix the issue they were having.

[SoFlaJDM]

i've had it... no big deal

it's just really intense keeping your eyes open, trying to look at the light since your eyes are extremely dilated and sensitive. they numb your eyes, and they gave me some valium to calm me down... as SOON as they were done, i put on my shades and immediately saw improvement in vision

[motivez]

Originally Posted by DosEquis

I hear major positive stories, and i have 2 examples of "woah shit". Most of the woah shit involves them having to go back repeatedly to fix the issue they were having.

More details?

[7960]

Originally Posted by motivez

More details?

I'm going to conservatively say I know 15 people who've had it.

The worst story I heard was my friend denny......when they're done and flip the flap back on your eye it's pretty much supposed to seal up within a few minutes. His took an hour. They don't know why, but the doc says it happens sometimes. So rather than getting up and leaving he had to sit in the waiting room for an hour, with the doc coming to check every 10 minutes or so.

He went from 20/400 to 20/15. Now probably 7 years later he's 20/30 and has been for a while.

My sister has halos but they don't bother her. She's said more than once the slight halos in a few circumstances are well worth not needing glasses. I asked her if she had it all to do over would she do it again and she said she woudl in a second.

[avsp]

Having an extreme eye condition myself, I've spent a huge amount of time sitting listening to plain-speaking eye consultants discuss the eye conditions & the idiocy of their sufferers.

I was doing this as Lasik was first coming in.

It was the bane of their lives as it would not help the people they typically saw & yet people would keep asking, ..., if not for themselves but for 'Little Johnny, afore he gets it'.

Such was his exasperation that Consultant R-H, (bluff, northern yet still strangely patrician as only a staggeringly rude Brit can be), was on occasion given to consulting in a loud voice to the entire huge waiting room 'No, laser surgery is only for the fully grown at least 26 years old as eyes will grow & Little Johnny might then not need any corrections at all'

I must've heard him say this several dozen times.

This was a good while back & I daresay procedures may've changed & I'm no doctor & if its still an issue I'm sure any reputable doc will advise so etc.

Phantom, Mot & LH re:your worries/concerns on contacts, .... PAH! Pah I say ya bunch of lightweights etc

[Stylerod]

I have had such good luck with my contacts. I have been wearing the same brand for probably more than 15 years. I can wear them for 4+ weeks at a time without ever using eye drops or taking them out. I would say I went over 10 years without ever buying solution or eye drops.

Now my doctor told me that the Acuvue contacts I have been wearing are discontinued. We have been trying for almost 2 months to find me good lenses and they all suck. They are either uncomfortable or I can't see well in them. I have another appointment today.

I am going to get some glasses. My last pair are 12 years old and I have maybe worn them 5 times.

I asked about Lasik now that I am having these problems and he said my eyes are not good candidates. He is a partner in a surgery center so I believe him.

And my eye sight is bad. In order to read our nightstand clock, which numbers are probably 2 inches tall, I have to be within 2 feet.

This sucks.....

[7960]

Originally Posted by Stylerod

I have had such good luck with my contacts. I have been wearing the same brand for probably more than 15 years. I can wear them for 4+ weeks at a time without ever using eye drops or taking them out. I would say I went over 10 years without ever buying solution or eye drops.

Now my doctor told me that the Acuvue contacts I have been wearing are discontinued. We have been trying for almost 2 months to find me good lenses and they all suck. They are either uncomfortable or I can't see well in them. I have another appointment today.

I am going to get some glasses. My last pair are 12 years old and I have maybe worn them 5 times.

I asked about Lasik now that I am having these problems and he said my eyes are not good candidates. He is a partner in a surgery center so I believe him.

And my eye sight is bad. In order to read our nightstand clock, which numbers are probably 2 inches tall, I have to be within 2 feet.

This sucks.....

Travel around to all the pharmacies within a few hundred miles and buy up all the contact lenses in your prescription. Then go online and buy up everything you can......then spend the rest of your life deciding if what you want to go see is Acuvue-worthy.

[Stylerod]

Originally Posted by 7960

Travel around to all the pharmacies within a few hundred miles and buy up all the contact lenses in your prescription. Then go online and buy up everything you can......then spend the rest of your life deciding if what you want to go see is Acuvue-worthy.

My friends used teh "Sponge Worthy" analogy as well

[Stylerod]

So I talked to my doctor yesterday and asked him why we are having such a problem finding me new contacts. I asked how many different lens types are there. This is "pretty much" what he said. I'm not 100% positive of the numbers here but they are close.

He told me there are 33 primary lens powers. Of which there are 3 variations of each power. For people with astigmatism, like me, there are 4 different sized lenses in each power. And of those there are 8 different lenses that take into account the degree of slant of the astigmatism.

Well, the lenses he gave me yesterday are the most comfortable yet. But my focus goes in and out which is really frustrating. The hunt continues.....

[Dispatcher]

If I could afford it, I would do it in a New York minute.
My eyesight is so bad that my next prescription will be a seeing eye dog .
(I sure hope he can drive)

[7960]

Originally Posted by Dispatcher

If I could afford it, I would do it in a New York minute.
My eyesight is so bad that my next prescription will be a seeing eye dog .
(I sure hope he can drive)

"my eyes are so bad even my AV wears glasses"

[avsp]

Originally Posted by Stylerod

I have had such good luck with my contacts. I have been wearing the same brand for probably more than 15 years. I can wear them for 4+ weeks at a time without ever using eye drops or taking them out. I would say I went over 10 years without ever buying solution or eye drops.

Now my doctor told me that the Acuvue contacts I have been wearing are discontinued. We have been trying for almost 2 months to find me good lenses and they all suck. They are either uncomfortable or I can't see well in them. I have another appointment today.

I am going to get some glasses. My last pair are 12 years old and I have maybe worn them 5 times.

I asked about Lasik now that I am having these problems and he said my eyes are not good candidates. He is a partner in a surgery center so I believe him.

And my eye sight is bad. In order to read our nightstand clock, which numbers are probably 2 inches tall, I have to be within 2 feet.

This sucks.....

One of the very few things that angered consultant R-H more than frequent lasik questions was the all-day-all-night contact lens that ppl never took out. He claimed that it encouraged blood-vessel growth in the cornea.

Your milage varies, ..., obviously.

Myself, how ppl sleep in the contacts is totally beyond me, ..., one would need false corneas to start with IMO

Originally Posted by 7960

"my eyes are so bad even my AV wears glasses"

thats as maybe but how clearly can you see your eyelashes?

[thatguyoverthere]

Interesting thread. I'm right there with Motivez and Phantom, maybe even worse. I tried contacts twice in my life, and it was some of the worst times I've ever had. Lasted maybe a month at best, and I hate wearing glasses. Those people who can just pop their contacts in and have them in for days are unique types of people, I guess. It felt like it took me an hour just to get them in, just like Phantom said. I would be a nervous, red watery eyed exhausted mess afterward. And they always, always, always felt like something was in my eyes. I worry that if I had lasik I'd have some contact lens inserting trauma flashbacks and freak out during the surgery, whereupon the laser not only leaves me blinded but looking like a rejected James Bond villain.

Still, I hope to get it someday. Reading stories here about people who have gotten dust or dirt in their eyes later on and not have any ill effects reassures me. I worry that I'll rub my eyes in my sleep or in the shower someday and screw the whole thing up. But still, I can totally get the guy who cried when he woke up and could see. That would be a hell of a thing.

[7960]

Originally Posted by avsp

thats as maybe but how clearly can you see your eyelashes?

what?

we're two people separated by a common language.

[7960]

Originally Posted by thatguyoverthere

I worry that if I had lasik I'd have some contact lens inserting trauma flashbacks and freak out during the surgery, whereupon the laser not only leaves me blinded but looking like a rejected James Bond villain.

if you move too much the machine shuts down.

I as amazed that my friend said you're not bolted down in any way. He said there was a red dot on the ceiling and he was told "don't move, and stare at the dot." He later found out if he moved the machine had parameters in which it could adjust, and if his movements went outside those parameters the laser would stop.

of course he said he was afraid the laser would go through his eye and into his brain if he moved so he didn't.

I worry that I'll rub my eyes in my sleep or in the shower someday and screw the whole thing up.

can't happen, any more than you can rub a scar on your arm and have it open up. the only way it *could* happen is if you did something *serious* that would have damaged an un-laziked eye, too.